Page 63 of Gumbo, Ghosts, and Deadly Deception
Despite everything—the murder, the chase, the revelation that someone I'd hosted as a guest was a killer—I smiled. Because that was so perfectly, ridiculously Maggie.
And I took reassurance in knowing that Arthur was going to pay the price for his actions.
Three hours later, I was sitting in the NOPD station with a cup of terrible coffee, watching Hollis fill out what seemed like an endless amount of paperwork. My adrenaline had finally worn off, leaving me feeling like I'd been hit by a streetcar.
"So Arthur confessed?" I asked, though I already knew the answer. We'd all heard him admit to covering up murders in the cemetery. We’d handed over Maggie’s phone to the police, which had most of what Arthur had said to us on it.
"Oh yeah. Once we got him back here, he couldn't stop talking." Hollis looked up from his forms on his computer. "Turns out he's been cleaning up after the Pelican Development Group for decades with several associates. Not just Francine, but at least four other women who got too close to their business practices."
"Four others." I felt sick thinking about it. "All those families never knowing what happened.”
“We’ll notify the victim’s families. Give them closure, finally." He sat back in his chair. "Harper, you were right to keep digging, even when I told you to back off."
"I almost got myself and Maggie killed. And Beau."
"But you didn't. You exposed a killer who's been operating for forty years. There might be some other guys who go down for this as well."
Before I could respond, the door opened and Maggie walked in, followed by a woman I immediately recognized. It was Ginger St. James, looking pale but very much alive and walking under her own power.
"Ginger!" I jumped up. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I accidentally snorted poison," she said dryly, settling into a chair. "Which, as it turns out, is exactly what happened."
Hollis leaned forward. "You want to tell Harper what you told me?"
Ginger sighed, looking embarrassed. "I was searching Arthur's room that night. I knew he was hiding something. The way he kept asking questions about Delia, about what she might have left behind. When I found that packet of angel's trumpet in his luggage, I got excited. I thought it might be evidence."
"And you accidentally inhaled it?"
"The packet tore open when I was examining it. I got a face full of the powder before I could stop myself." She shook her head. "Forty years of working with herbs and I make a rookie mistake like that. I stumbled to Room Three because I didn’t want to pass out in Arthur’s room. I tried to call for help but I fell unconscious."
"So Arthur didn't try to poison you?"
"No, though he was certainly happy to let everyone think he had as the anonymous killer. Made him look more dangerous than he actually was." Ginger's expression hardened. "Don't get me wrong though. He's still a monster. But he wasn't particularly good at the hands-on killing part."
Hollis pulled out a file. "Arthur's confessed to being what he calls 'the cleanup crew.' When Francine threatened to expose the Pelican Group's money laundering and property scams, his father and a couple of work-for-hire guys handled the actual... silencing. Arthur just made sure the bodies disappeared and that the paperwork got lost. It seems like Beau’s father had some kind of involvement but we’re not sure how deep or how much he knew the truth about what was happening."
"Beau’s father?” I had to admit, I was shocked. I imagine Beau was devastated. But maybe his father really hadn’t known the truth. I hoped so for Beau’s case. “Was that his father there at my house the night Delia died?”
“To be determined,” Hollis said.
“So Arthur's been helping to cover all this up ever since?"
"Whenever someone got too close to the truth. But he was getting sloppy in his old age. Delia was supposed to look like a suicide, but he botched the staging."
Maggie, who'd been unusually quiet, finally spoke up. "What about the women? Where are they?"
"Different methods, different locations. Arthur kept detailed records of various construction sites with suspicious labeling. He thought of himself as a historian, documenting his family's 'service to the city.' We've already started recovery operations."
I thought about all those families, all those cold cases that would finally be solved. "Will there be enough evidence to prosecute the living members of the Pelican Group?"
"Arthur's testimony, plus all those documents Lucien saved, plus your aunt's journals? Yeah, we'll be able to build cases." Hollis's expression was grim. "Though most of the main players are dead. Arthur's father, the original Pelican Group leadership. The other two men who actually did the killing."
"But the son will go down for the cover-up," Ginger said with satisfaction. "Arthur will spend the rest of his life in prison."
"What about Francine?" I asked quietly. "Did he tell you where...?"
"She's buried in the basement of the old Pelican Group headquarters. Building's been renovated three times since 1984, but the foundation is original." Hollis's voice was gentle. "We'll bring her home, Harper. Give her family the burial she deserves."
